community leadership visit​2012 San Luis obispo

CLV San Luis Obispo

67 business and government executives, owners, and principals visited San Luis Obispo and explored SLO’s answers to key Santa Cruz issues including K-14 education, retail, economic development, and university technology transfer. As a community, San Luis Obispo has many of the same demographics and issues as our region including an excellent university, significant tourism, opportunities for growth in technology transfer, agriculture, and manufacturing, and retail opportunities. They have succeeded in developing a public/private partnership to address economic development opportunities, attracting national retailers to the downtown areas, and building an effective business retention and attraction program.​The following were some of the conversations that developed from this visit:

Emphasizing “the twins”- economic vitality and environmental protection – in economic development activities; economic development is all about improving a community’s quality of life.

Using parking improvements as a downtown development tool to stimulate new investment in existing properties and attract retailers.

Transforming K-14 education to provide 21st Century skills – building students’ learning capacity and increasing the efficiency and sophistication of teaching and learner s school experience.

Opening the “innovation faucet”, encouraging the commercialization of university-development technologies and student and faculty entrepreneurship by changing research and inventor mindsets to a “can-do” rapid-prototyping model.